Didgeridoos a don't for girls: expert

Dr Mark Rose says the didgeridoo is a man's instrument and touching it could make girls infertile.

Brigette Riffis, file photo: AAP

An Aboriginal academic has accused publisher Harper Collins of gross cultural insensitivity over a new book which includes didgeridoo lessons for girls.

The publishing house is preparing to release an Australian version of an American book called The Daring Book for Girls.

"We present stories and projects galore, drawn from the vastness of history, the wealth of girl knowledge, the breath of sport and the great outdoors," an excerpt of the book reads.

But the general manager of the Victorian Aboriginal Education Association, Dr Mark Rose, says the publishers have committed a major faux pas by including a didgeridoo lesson for girls.

Dr Rose says the didgeridoo is a man's instrument and touching it could make girls infertile, and has called for the book to be pulped.

"I would say from an Indigenous perspective, an extreme mistake, but part of a general ignorance that mainstream Australia has about Aboriginal culture," he said.

"We know very clearly that there is a range of consequences for females touching a didgeridoo, it's men's business, and in the girls book, instructions on how to use it, for us it is an extreme cultural indiscretion."

Dr Rose says the consequences for a girl touching a didgeridoo can be quite extreme.

"It would vary in the places where it is, infertility would be the start of it ranging to other consequences," he said.